Agri MoU bogged down

The lack of implementation of an agricultural agreement that was signed more than five years ago between Namibia and Indonesia was yesterday highlighted when the two countries discussed the progress made in terms of the agreement.
From information at hand, plans that were launched in 2011 to implement at least ten projects in this agreement have turned up minimal progress. There has been no headway made to start with rice research in northern Namibia and this will likely be scrapped as an activity between the two countries; no progress has been made to improve the content of plant and nutritional soil while the same goes for increasing product development through value addition.
There has also been no progress on the protection and production of animals and plant genetic material while in the areas of capacity building and training there has been some progress made.
A meeting of the Joint Working Committee that is responsible for the implementation of the memorandum of understanding between Namibia and Indonesia on cooperation in the field of agriculture was held yesterday.
This was the first meeting to be held by the group since the agreement was signed in March 2011 and the group established in June that same year.
During the meeting the committee discussed the progress report on the implementation of the work plan for the period 2011 to 2016 and they were to draft and approve a new work plan.
There had been no progress in the majority of the activities set out in the work plan since it came into effect five years ago.
The plan was yesterday described as too ambitious.
The Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, John Mutorwa, said that while activities such as training staff and capacity building have taken place, quite a number of activities as outlined in the signed working plan still needed to be attended to through the committee.
According to the agreement, the agriculture sectors in Indonesia and Namibia face similar challenges and priorities and therefore it was agreed to pursue several areas of technical cooperation.
However due to the slow implementation the committee will review and discuss these areas and see whether certain areas should be scrapped entirely from the work plan and what activities should be realigned and be continued.
Indonesian deputy director for bilateral cooperation Dr Ade Candradijaya, yesterday said that they are ready to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector. He added that this is the first time the committee has met since it was established five years ago, but that they have managed cooperation in the areas such as training and capacity building.
He said that through the meeting they aim to come up with a concrete plan of action on the way forward as implementation has been lacking. He said that areas to be concentrated on need to be more specific and that they need to come up with an integrated plan that will cover the interests of both countries.
Meanwhile Namibia’s agricultural ministry deputy permanent secretary, Sophia Kasheeta also agreed that although the plan was put together it was not fully implemented.
Saying the plan and its activities were too ambitious she added that; “Only some of the activities have been implemented. We are going to review and align these activities to come up with a workable plan.”
According to her four staff members of the ministry have been sent for training in Indonesia for plant health and quality management.

ELLANIE SMIT